True Stories

From: Eje Sandberg
Sent: Friday, August 21, 2009 8:19 AM
To: Sherry
Subject: Your homepage

Dear Sherry,

I tried to forward the link of your homepage to a sailing friend of mine but I failed to find it. Have you changed the address? Anyway I would be glad to get it from you. I hope all is well with you and John, Will and the firm.

My Hydrovane is still working fantastico. Last year it steered our Chelonia more than 3000 NM . Round the Orkneys, Scotland, Ireland ,down to Bretagne and home. Absolutely without problems.

Therefore I try to recommend it to everyone who looks on it.

Best regards to all of you.
from Eje

~

From: Eje Sandberg
Sent: Friday, October 06, 2006 3:38 AM
To: John Curry
Subject: Hydrovane on Najad 373

Ulricehamn Oct. 6.. 2006

Hi John,

In June this year we installed your Hydrovane on our CHELONIA, a Najad 373, and we like to give you a brief report. The only difficulty was – as you surely remember- that I had to stop the mounting-work because one of the brackets was missing and you had to make preparations for an emergency delivery, The alarm could however be called off, when the bracket was found in the trunk of my car!!

Again, many, many excuses.

Besides that episode, the installation gave no problem thanks to the clear instructions of the manual. Because of the sloping transom of our boat you recommended use of an H-bracket plus an upper A-bracket, for which I am very glad. The equipment is thereby very stable and sturdy and a fine piece of engineering work. It was offset from the centreline in order not to interfere with the ladder.

There was no time for practical tests in our home-water so the Hydrovane had to start working in real when we set off on our trip from the Swedish West coast across the North Sea to Scotland , the Outer Hebrides and the Orkneys and back. Like many other of your customers we were amazed how simple it was to get the new crew-member to work; (once the sail-setting was in balance). We did appreciated the silence when it was in function and how well it steered; much better than we can. Also with “wing to wing” setting with the wind straight from astern the steering was perfect without any unexpected gybes.

We have not yet had the opportunity to use the new rudder in real nasty weather, but we are confident that it will manage that as well.

We are happy and very satisfied.
both Eje and his son Staffan

Enclosed you will find a photo, which you are free to use as you like.

From: Gavin Blem
Sent: Monday, November 27, 2006 2:31 AM
Subject: Hydrovane Mounting Position

John

If you ever need support for your recommendation, to mount the vane off centre to preserve fitted boarding ladders, then you are welcome to refer to this.

I’ve noticed no performance difference on either port or starboard tacks, even at exceptional angles of heel, despite the vane being 30cm to starboard. Yesterday in a club race on the Medway river in SSW 5 to 6, we had a man overboard at the gybe mark. He fortunately kept hold of the mainsheet as he went over, so he stayed with us and was able to climb aboard as soon as we’d hove to and let go the boarding ladder from its slip knot.

If we’d followed conventional wisdom or other vane designs, the boarding ladder would not have been there and we’d have had a great deal of difficulty getting him on board. We’d also certainly not have retained our position of 2nd out of 19!

Thanks again for your original advice and keep giving it!

Best regards
Gavin Blem

From: Yvonne Kelly
Sent: Tuesday, December 05, 2006 4:18 AM
To: John Curry
Subject: Prout Snowgoose 37

Hello John,

Further to your recent mail, I am sending you 7 separate photos showing your VXA2 mounted on my Prout Snowgoose Elite catamaran. The stainless steel support frame was made by a local fabricator to guidance drawings supplied by Derek Daniels and incorporates our stern boarding ladder. It is mounted on the centre line and the shaft length was calculated by Derek to ensure that the depth of the rudder did not extend beyond our skegs and the top of the vane did not clash with the end of our boom.

I am very impressed with its performance and providing our sails are balanced so that the boat is not overpressed, the Hydrovane works very well. Our hydraulic wheel steering allows us to “feel” the load on the helm and yet also allows us to set the helm at midships and engage the Hydrovane without the need to lash the wheel. As you would expect, the Hydrovane does struggle when running in light winds and I am thinking about connecting a small rod-type autopilot to the hydrovane for use in those conditions. We also have a Furuno Navpilot but I much prefer to use the Hydrovane whenever I can.

Following my comments about our unexpected grounding last season, I have checked the shaft below the bottom bearing and, as far as I can tell, it is running true. I also checked the shaft diameter (28.6mm) and the diameter of the hole in the top of the rudder (29.2mm) and they seem about right, although I still have about 20 mm of fore and aft movement measured at the bottom of the rudder – what are the acceptable limits for this measurement?

Finally, as I mentioned in my previous e-mail, I would like to improve our stowage of the vane which we dismount when we are at anchor or in port. To this end, will you please give me a price for the following parts:-

Item 4 – Vane slot collar
Item 6 – Vane slot sleeve
Item 32 – Vane knob

Basically I want to be able to clamp the vane on the back of one of our cabin doors when it is not in use.

Regards Brian Kelly

From: Keith Meakin
Sent: Sunday, June 17, 2007 8:06 AM
To: John Curry
Subject: RE: Pictures

Hi John,

Glad you got the pictures okay, the cat is a Harm Veneema. Not a well known model at all, I think there were only 4 constructed. It was launched in 1989, we took ownership in July 2005.

We left England in July 2006 after fitting the Hydrovane when we were beached in Ilfracombe. We have played with the Hydrovane quite a few times when sailing in Brittany, letting it take over the boat during some quite hairy moments. It kept us on track in 20kn winds with no problems.

Also when going through the Raz de Seine, so it has been tried and proven. We haven’t as yet let it take over for long periods mainly because we’ve had very light winds when going down the west coast of Portugal where we still are.

We have no doubts of the Hydrovane’s ability to handle to cat and also it is a comfort to know we can use it as an emergency tiller. Sometimes we have used it to just assist when tacking, it just gives us a bit more umph!

We have some pictures of us in the water, that friends took however they are on a CD on the boat and we are in an internet bar at the moment. You may be able to see some of the pictures on our website www.meakintwoeasy.org.uk

I’ll jpeg them and send them to you within the next few days.

Also we’ll let you know a postal address and thanks for the gift.

Kind regards

Keith and Pam Meakin

From: Brian
Sent: Wednesday, October 04, 2006 11:11 AM
To: John Curry
Subject: re-build time

Good day John and family.

After leaving West Vancouver in January 1980 I have cruised for many thousands of miles. I have owned a number of boats along the way many with different types of self steering, and by far the Hydrovane is my favorite.

I maintain my lifestyle by doing all types of repair on other cruisers boats and over the years have yet to undertake a Hydrovane repair. This brings me to my point of this e-mail. My own unit, after much use, finally needs bearing and bushing replacements. My question to you is …can I use heat on the casting in order to remove some of the frozen grub screws and maybe the more stubborn bushings?

Thank you for your time,

Brian

From: Mark Owen
Sent: Monday, September 11, 2006 3:25 AM
To: John Curry
Subject: Hydrovane

John

Just thought I would drop you a quick line as we have just returned from our first proper shakedown trip with our new Hydrovane. The kit done exactly what it said on the box and steered us accurately for over 800 miles. Even when the boat was obviously unbalanced, when running under main alone we were able to maintain our course. However, the Hydrovane soon taught us how to get the best out of our boat, and we learnt a great deal on the ideal sail trim during our trip.

We experienced one minor problem which I will come and see you about at Southampton. We appear to have some vertical movement on the top yoke type casting which tends to rise and fall as the vane is loaded and unloaded, this caused the worm and the gear to jam together and make remote adjustment difficult if not timed properly.

Anyway apart from this small teething problem we are very pleased with our new crew member and look forward to further adventures together.

Ps. As promised I have attached a couple of photos of the installation for your archive, although not evident from the pictures, the spacing teak pads were cross laminated from two pieces of 15mm teak glued at 90 degrees to each other to ensure that they will never crack. This was on the advise of the excellent boat builders at Northney Marine Services who made and shaped the blocks for us.

Best regards Mark Owen

From: Mike Eastman
Sent: Wednesday, August 30, 2006 6:11 AM
To: Sherry
Subject: Hydrovane part enquiry

Hello

Please can you quote for supply of a new HEADING KNOB for our VXA1 model? To include postage to address below. After many years of needing nothing apart from the odd pin, we dropped this in the water in the Azores this summer.

Hydrovane still gets our vote as one of our best bits of kit on the boat (Warrior 35 Mk 3, now on her 4th Atlantic crossing, all with H’vane, plus many miles in the Caribbean, Pacific and Mediterranean).

Thanks Mike Eastman, Devon

From: bamboo
Sent: Thursday, August 03, 20061:30 PM
To: Will Curry
Subject: Hydrovane Installation

Hi Will,

You will be pleased to hear that the hydrovane has been installed successfully on to my Beneteau 411. My cousin and I fitted it yesterday. I decided to place the hydrovane in the central position with the “A” brackets spaced either side of the stern access to the bathing platform. It doesn’t obstruct access too much and it gives a nice secure feeling when standing on the platform between the “A” bracket arms. Even when healed and doing 8kts in force 6! It means that I can attend to the hydrovane whilst underway without the risk of falling off the stern.

My cousin used to own and run a boat yard in Tortola, British Virgin Isles, so his experience and help in fitting the hydrovane was invaluable. I thought it would be difficult but it only took a day to install the three brackets and “A” frames. I have used teak blocks on the outdside bedded down with sealant adhesive and thick ply inside also bedded down with sealant adhesive. The assembly is now very rigid. All the critical dimensions have been satisfied.

Today we took the yacht out for sea trials. The wind was north westerly force 6 up the Bristol Channel. We had the third reef in the genoa and the first reef in the mainsail and the sea was moderately rough. Even so we were doing between 7 – 8kts close hauled and on a reach. The hydrovane worked perfectly first time even when the wind came round on the stern quarter.

What I need to do now is to refine the settings on the vane axis and the ratio control and with a little bit of practice I should be able to achieve a nice straight wake in all conditions. Although I think I will wait for a less windy day to play around with the hydrovane and build confidence in manipulating the settings.

I can only say that I have been very impressed with the quality of the equipment and the integrity of the design.

Many thanks for a superb piece of equipment will which greatly improve my enjoyment while sailing and give a much greater degree of redundancy and safety.

I look forward to seeing you all again at the Southampton Boat Show this year.

Best Wishes to all at Hydrovane

Malcolm Jordan

From: Brian Case
Sent: Monday, May 22, 2006 1:59 PM
To: John Curry
Subject: ocean sunrise pics

Hi John.

It took long enough, but here are the pics I promised. 316 shows the North Somerset coast, and shows the tiller lashed midships; 318 shows the strong tides we get in the Bristol Channel, hydrovane coping well; 326 shows the vanes rope and pulley whipped to the wind generators tripod; 335 is my baby alongside in Swansea, our first real trip with the new self steering kit.

I have sailed the hydrovane in winds from F3 to F9. It really does ‘just work’. It took me a few attempts to fine tune the windvane to sail a specific course, the trick was to trim the sails properly (just like it says in the handbook!!). The unit works equally well on all points of sail, but has yet to be tested in large quartering seas. This will be an important test as Ocean Sunrise hates these conditions, and is a right bugger to steer! If the unit copes with this, I will be very pleased, but based on its performance so far, I have no real doubts.

For the hell of it, I took her out in a force nine, just to see if the unit would cope. The strong wind made the windvane move through its full range, and the rudder over-steered badly. This caused the boat to alternately luff up, and bear away dramatically, and made life awful. I simply ‘changed down’ on the ‘gearbox’, and the problem solved itself. Life returned to normal, and the subsequent cup of coffee was enjoyed particularly well!

I hope to take a couple of weeks off in June, intending to visit Lundy Island, Padstow, the Scilly Isles, and the Gower coast. It will all be single-handed, so should be the last ‘test’ my new hydrovane will have.

By the way, I have called the unit ‘Megan’, after a friends daughter who, on her very first time at the helm ( 12 years old at the time) steered a straighter course than any adult with years of experience (including yours truly!).

Hope the enclosed are useful, and that all is well in Canada.

Best wishes, Brian Case

From: Tom Ehmann
Sent: Wednesday, July 19, 2006 8:49 AM
To: John Curry
Subject: well done

Hi John

Just a note to say that the hydrovane worked great on our trip. Over 11,000 miles and it worked well in all conditions on our Niagara 35. Steered better than we could in a gale that saw gusts of 50 knots.

We knew lots of other cruisers turning on their engines since their steering vanes couldn’t handle less than 5 knots but we just drifted along using the hydrovane – e.g. all the way through the ITCZ. It belongs in the Smithsonian!

Tom Ehmann, S/V Aurora B

From: Nigel
Sent: Friday, June 02, 2006 7:13 AM
To: John Curry
Subject: Thanks.

Dear John,

I thought you might like to know that we have now fitted the new Hydrovane to our Moody 376 – “Strummer”. I fitted it off-centre to avoid moving the bathing ladder and had a hole made through the bathing platform to accommodate the shaft as per one of the fitting options that you sent. I had the hole made professionally but did the remainder of the work myself – no problems encountered and I think the end result looks very neat. (Pictures attached – please feel free to use these as you wish).

We set off from Syracusa in Sicily heading for Dubrovnik in Croatia and engaged the Hydrovane for the first time as soon as we left port. It performed faultlessly right from the start just as your literature said it would! We are really impressed with it.

Thanks to you and your team for a great product.

Nigel Battarbee and Alison Timms “Yacht Strummer”

From: Roy Gee
Sent: Wednesday, April 12, 2006 12:01 PM
To: Will Curry
Subject: Re: Hydrovane Pins

Will.

Thanks for prompt reply. 4 pins, please and I will do a bank transfer. I have a Beneteau First 38 which is in Puerto Calero, Lanzarote,Canary Islands. I will try to take some photos next time I have my Hydrovane on.

I call it ‘Miles’ after my hero Miles Davis. He did an album ‘Miles Ahead’. Mine is Miles Astern.

I used to be on Derek’s (previous owner of Hydrovane) publicity as I said Miles had steered me across the Atlantic perfectly 5 times. It is also one of the few things on the boat which appreciates in value.

Regards, Roy Gee.

From: Skardu (Mark & Quintin)
Sent: Thursday, April 06, 2006 2:25 PM
To: John Curry
Subject: RE: Free locking pin

Hi John & Sherry,

Thanks for your generous offer. Order details for the vane cover are below, but in the meantime….

Our hydrovane (a.k.a. “Scarlet”) has been a complete star the last 18 months. We’ve covered over 18,000nm, with her steering for most of them. Our autopilot died on us about half way through our adventure, but we found that Scarlet filled in quite nicely even while we were motoring, as long as there was even the lightest of winds. I must admit, that she took a little getting used to (the tips on your website are very useful, but we discovered them 12 months too late!), but now that we have the hang of her, I can’t imagine why any yacht would a) be without one, and b) want to use any another system.

At one point, crossing the Bay of Biscay at the start of our trip, we lost our wheel steering in the middle of the night. Fortunately the main rudder still worked, but it was very reassuring to know that if that went too, we’d still have scarlet to steer us on. At another point, we got knocked down sailing to Colombia, and the force of the wave that hit us twisted the top half of Scarlet through 90 degrees. Sadly that put her out of commission until we made landfall a few days later, but despite our worst fears, all we needed to do was release a couple of bolts, and gently crow-bar her back into place….. she was good as new again, with not even a hint of damage to the vane. I bet the plywood vanes of other manufacturers wouldn’t have stood up as well.

I’m not sure how old Scarlet is, but if the previous owners of Skardu put her on before they started their circumnavigation, I have to guess that she has at least 70,000nm under her rudder, and she’s still going strong!!!

On that note, I’d still very much like to order a new RED vane cover. Ours is currently wearing through and looking a little faded, and we don’t really want to change Scarlet’s name to Rose!

It might be a bit tight to have the package reach us in NZ before we set off again, so if could, could you be so kind as to send it to the following address instead. It may also make shipping cheaper/easier.

Many thanks again,
Best, Mark

From: brian case
Sent: Saturday, January 21, 2006 11:34 AM
To: John Curry; David Sloggit
Subject: its fitted

Hi John. Well, my dear old Rival now sports a nice new Hydrovane, to the envy of my nearest neighbour!! The actual assembly of the unit was just as straight forward as you told me at Southampton (have to confess, I didn’t really believe you!!). Actually, it was a piece of cake! Making the wooden pads to compensate for the angle of the transom was another matter. What a pain in the a**! I tried to get too clever, I think, using templates and a protractor to measure the angle, and then trying to translate that to the pad. Failed miserably!! In the end I just did it by eye, taking the old view that if it looks right, it is right. Worked perfectly. Don’t know why I didn’t do it that way in the first place. Would have saved me a few hours of work. All that is left now is to go out to play!!

By the way. You guys certainly now how to package your product. The first (in truth, the only) difficulty I encountered was getting the parts out of the boxes! The ‘fragile’ stickers are definitely a euphemism. Now I have seen the Hydrovane up close and personal, I can see it is about as fragile as my Landrover!

I’ll let you know how I get on with the new ‘crew’ when I get a chance to take ‘Ocean Sunrise’ out to sea, but that may be a few months yet. I don’t think I will have any problems though. The product just looks right. Looks good on the boat too. The only drawback with my new ‘crew’ that I can foresee is that it wont stand its round in the pub!!!!!! Hey Ho, its an imperfect world!

Cheers, and all the best to all.

Brian.

From: John Shugar
Sent: Sunday, March 05, 2006 5:49 PM
To: Will Curry
Subject: Vane specs/parts sheet

Hi Will,

The vane worked great! AS I knew it would given my past experience with the RVG unit.

On Feb. 10th we finally relaunched Windsweptt II. My step-son flew in from Pensylvannia (after a day’s delay for the 18″ snow they got) and we sailed the boat back south to our area. We motored throughout the night but by morning we had 18-20 knots of apparent wind. First time we sailed the boat, new mailsail and everything to shake out. But the vane steered the course as steady as it could in 5-6 foot of slop, variable wind directions and strength.

My stepson couldn’t believe how well it steered the boat. We had motored all night utilizing the auto pilot and that didn’t really hold the course at all……yawing 15-20 degrees around the course. The vane held to a degree or two!

Thanks.John Shugar

~

From: John Sugar
Sent: Tuesday, March 07, 2006 7:40 AM
To: John Curry
Subject: Endorsement

Hi John,

Of course you can use my quote on the vane. I have waited years to get my hands on the Hydrovane and have had quite a bit of discussion with others about it already.

Thanks for all your help and wish you continued success on sales. Incidentally, the first time I coveted the Hydrovane was 25 + years ago when I built a boat from a bare hull. That was a tight budget project and I couldn’t afford to buy the Hydrovane so I used a competitor’s unit that simply was not rugged enough for the boat and the way I sailed it. It failed three different times, the last on a 13 day trip from Florida’s west coast to Bermuda with my 66 year old mother as crew! We had to hand steer the last 10 days through absolutely the worst weather I have sailed in on the Atlantic!

But it has all worked out. I sold that boat with the vane and now I have an even grander boat, and although she is almost 4,000 lbs heavier, the Hydrovane handles her with ease!I look forward to many more sailings with no problems.

It says something, I think, that 25 years later Hydrovane is still around and upgraded to an even better design than when I first discovered it. The other vane manufacturer is not.

John Shugar